Fred Gazaleh represents Donald James Smith for a hearing in Jacksonville. He called for steps to help assure a fair trial for the 57-year-old sex offender charged in the abduction, sexual assault and death of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

11 p.m. Friday (Walmart Supercenter): Cherish’s mother reports the 8-year-old girl missing to police. Authorities say the mother and Donald James Smith went to Walmart after Smith offered to buy the family some clothes.

9 a.m. Saturday (I-95/I-10): Police pull over and surround Donald James Smith’s white 1998 Dodge van on I-95 South near the I-10 split.

10 a.m. Saturday (Highlands Baptist Church): The body of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle is found near the church.

Source: Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office

Lawyers for a registered sex offender accused of killing 8-year Cherish Perrywinkle are concerned the media attention the case is getting will make it harder for Donald James Smith to get a fair trial.

The 57-year-old Jacksonville sex offender is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery. His trial is scheduled to start May 12 and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

On Thursday Assistant Public Defender Fred Gazaleh argued over 50 motions on the case. But the ones that got the most attention were calling for special steps to be taken to make sure the jury wasn’t influenced by news coverage.

Gazaleh requested Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper to ask the clerk of courts to tell prospective jurors the week before trial that they should avoid reading any newspapers or watch television news. He also asked for every potential juror to be interviewed without any other jurors in the courtroom when a jury is picked.

Jurors are usually questioned in groups, but Gazaleh worries that if a juror reveals that they know Smith is a registered sex offender in front of other jurors, it will contaminate the entire jury pool.

The fact that Smith is a registered sex offender will probably not be revealed to jurors during the criminal phase of the trial. But if he’s convicted, the jury might find out about it during the penalty portion.

Cooper said she’d check with the clerk but said she would probably ask some questions to the jurors as a group and after weeding some jurors out would interview them a second time individually.

Still to be determined is whether lawyers will argue that Smith is mentally incompetent. After the hearing Gazaleh said he was waiting for psychiatric reports that would determine whether it was an argument worth pursuing.

He also argued that the Florida law that permits the death penalty is unconstitutional because it has been applied inconsistently throughout the state. This is argued in every death-penalty case, and Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel said the Florida Supreme Court has ruled multiple times that the death-penalty law in Florida is legal.

Lawyers for Smith also are asking Cooper to exclude gruesome or inflammatory photographs from the jurors during trial, prohibit the prosecution from automatically excluding jurors who express reservations about the death penalty and have one jury vote on his guilt or innocence and then bring a second jury in if he’s convicted to recommend whether he gets death or life in prison.

Normally the same jury that convicts someone recommends whether he or she should get life or death. The final decision on whether someone goes to Death Row is made by the judge in the case.

Cooper did not rule on any of the motions Thursday.

Smith is accused of befriending Rayne Perrywinkle and her young children at the Dollar General store on June 21 and convincing them all to go to Walmart in his van after offering to buy them clothes and food.

Perrywinkle told police that about 11 p.m. Smith offered to buy the family hamburgers at the McDonald’s inside the Walmart on Lem Turner Road. She let her daughter go with him. They did not return.

Cherish’s body was found near a creek off Broward Road in the morning. Police found her wedged underneath an old tree that had fallen in the grassy marsh area of the creek.

Smith was arrested after his van and photo were broadcast in statewide alert was stopped on Interstate 95.